Mona Awad, author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl: Fiction

Read more »

Mona Awad, author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl: Fiction

Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks. She starts dating guys online but is afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend, China, does her makeup. So she starts to lose. With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged and pounds dropped. She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, friends, husband and reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl?

Read more »

Joyce Maynard, author of Under the Influence

Drinking cost Helen her marriage and custody of her seven-year-old son, Ollie. Once an aspiring art photographer, she now makes ends meet taking portraits of school children and working for a caterer. Recovering from her addiction, she spends lonely evenings checking out profiles on an online dating site. When she meets wealthy philanthropists Ava and Swift Havilland, the vulnerable Helen is instantly enchanted. As she increasingly falls under their influence, Ava and Swift hold out the most seductive gift: their influence and help to regain custody of her son.

Read more »

Debbie Macomber, author of A Girl's Guide to Moving On

Nichole is recovering from a broken heart after learning that her husband was having an affair and separating from him. The twist is that her mother-in-law, Leanne, is the one who told her that her son was cheating. Leanne has looked the other way for decades as her own husband cheated, and can’t bear to see her son repeating the same pattern. In telling Nichole, she also gathers the courage to leave her husband, and the two women rent apartments across the hall from each other, supporting one another in rebuilding their lives and embracing surprising new romantic endeavors.

Read more »

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

February 2016

In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety. But just when it seems that freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes, and all 10,000 people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.

Read more »

The Secret Language of Sisters by Luanne Rice

February 2016

When Ruth Ann (Roo) McCabe responds to a text message while she's driving, her life as she knows it ends. The car flips, and Roo winds up in a hospital bed, paralyzed. Everyone thinks she's in a coma, but Roo has locked-in syndrome --- she can see, hear and understand everything around her, but no one knows it. Mathilda (Tilly) is Roo's sister and best friend. She was the one who texted Roo and inadvertently caused the accident. Now, Tilly must grapple with her overwhelming guilt and her growing feelings for Roo's boyfriend, Newton --- the only other person who seems to get what Tilly is going through.

Read more »

Front Lines by Michael Grant

February 2016

World War II, 1942. A court decision makes women subject to the draft and eligible for service. The unproven American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled, the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, with dreams and aspirations. Each has her own reasons for volunteering: Rio fights to honor her sister, Frangie needs money for her family, and Rainy wants to kill Germans. These daring young women will play their parts in the war to defeat evil and save the human race.

Read more »

A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold

February 2016

While we were horrified to watch the events at Columbine, for Sue Klebold, this event was personal as it was masterminded and executed by her son, Dylan, and his friend, Eric Harris. While wrapping her head around the horror of what had been unleashed that morning, she grappled with losing the child she had loved, presenting her with a deep set of challenges. She looks at them in A MOTHER’S RECKONING: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy.

Read more »

The Widow by Fiona Barton

February 2016

I love diving into psychological thrillers. A couple of years ago, I read a book called THE SILENT WIFE, which I loved and selected as a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. In it, there was a wife who knew a secret about her husband and from there set a course to unravel and destroy his life. There was a moment when the entire story turned…and, ah, the tangle that was woven! Thus, when I read the description for THE WIDOW by Fiona Barton, I was riveted.

Read more »